Winter Adventure

It’s 1868, and the gold rush is spreading across the wild west of New South Wales, bringing with it a new breed of colonial rogue - bushrangers. A world far removed from hardworking farm girl Annie Bird and her sleepy village on the outskirts of Sydney. But when a cruel stroke of fortune sees Annie orphaned and outcast, she is forced to head for the goldfields in search of her grandfather, a legendary tracker. Determined and dangerously naive, she sets off with little but a swag full of hope - and is promptly robbed of it on the road.

Nightmares have him gasping for air. Frequently dreaming of being a sailor on a sinking Spanish galleon La Gracia, in the 17th century, he’s searched for the wreck and its priceless cargo off the Northeast Floridian coast for the last six years. Facing financial ruin from a massive tax bill, Teddy fears he’ll lose his beloved historic estate, Isabella, before he can dredge up the treasure.

Falsely accused of being the notorious Magic Thief, the non-magic Marcel Ellsworth, Baron of Carrington, wants nothing more than to stay away from enchanters and sorcerers. Unfortunately, he soon discovers his mentor, the Duke of Henly, is head of a family of proud enchanters - and that they’re the next target of the Magic Thief, a servant of the sorcerers.

Touch of the Unknown Rider picks up 20 years down the road from where The Modern Outlaws left off. Buster Fetteroff is strong in purchasing power but adrift in life and love, motivation and destination. Seeking something more, he dreams of beautiful wilderness. He and Larraine are still fit but attract second looks more from others than each other. They share a house but lead separate lives with different values and varying tastes. Applying the good sense between them, they navigate the fork in the road.

The Modern Outlaws are riders of a new century. We laugh like honest men at a rotary luncheon. We shake hands on our new business, understanding that it doesn’t mean shit, not one speck of it, because getting lost and becoming someone else begins with the utterance of your very name. We pulsate on a single idea, which is that of recapturing in the next 10 days what we’ve missed for the last 30 years. Where the early years were gilded with promise, the middle years assure these men that this is it, what it all comes down to, what happened to us.

Skylar Beaumont never wanted to return to Alaska. Still, when duty calls, she can’t refuse. And, as a third-generation “Coastie” and the only female captain in the local coast guard, she has too much to prove. Being stationed in her hometown of Port Serenity isn’t ideal—but she’ll tough it out until her transfer goes through and she can move on to warmer waters. That’s the plan, at least, until she crashes into Dex Wakefield. Again.